Senators defend Brown dig at Warren

Two prominent female Republican senators defended Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on Thursday after the Massachusetts freshman came under intense fire for cracking a joke about his leading opponent Elizabeth Warren.

Earlier on Thursday, Brown was asked in a radio interview about Warren’s recent comment in which she said she didn’t have to take her clothes off to pay for law school, to which he laughed and responded: “Thank God.”

But Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) defended Brown and his comments in statements to POLITICO.

“I know Scott Brown’s story, and I know that he had many obstacles to overcome in his youth,” Ayotte said. “It’s inappropriate to make light of his personal circumstances, or to disparage or belittle him for the decisions he made to improve his life. Scott is one of the best guys to work with in the Senate, and I am proud to call him my colleague.”

Collins similarly turned the spotlight on Warren, saying Brown was “merely responding” to comments first made by the Harvard professor, in which she “made light of the difficult choices in his life” – a reference to Warren’s recent jab at Brown’s decision to pose nude for a magazine in his 20’s.

“It’s wrong to mock anyone who had to make hard choices to overcome tough obstacles,” she said. “His story is no different than millions of Americans who are doing everything they can to make ends meet.”

Jim Barnett, Brown’s campaign manager, told POLITICO earlier on Thursday: “It’s elitist of Professor Warren to look down at the decisions Scott Brown made to put himself through college and rise above the circumstances of his life. Scott has fought and scraped for everything he’s got.”